There’s a very scary article over at AlterNet about the blind spot Americans seem to have for the christian extremists in this country. These so-called christians routinely say and do things so far removed from the principles of their religion’s founder that they are philosophically closer to the fundamentalist muslims they claim to abhor. Less extreme christians airily dismiss their radical fellow believers “as not representative of christianity“, or “they’re just a fringe group“. Very few moderate christians loudly and publicly denounce their more violent brethren, putting them in exactly the same position as moderate muslims in the wake of atrocities by islamic extremists.

Make no mistake, these home-grown christian taliban are a deadly threat to our Republic. Like the mujahedin of Afghanistan, these christian extremists see themselves as god’s army, and their goal is to impose strict religious law over their home country. They are willing- even eager- to kill their perceived enemies in furtherance of this goal. Unlike the mujahedin, however, these christian fundamentalist loons are a serious threat to the security of the United States because they are already here. Worse, the willful refusal to decry their actions by their co-religionists allows them to operate with little or no checks on their behavior. One need only look at Eric Rudolph for confirmation of this statement. After committing violent terrorist acts against American citizens, American christians sheltered and aided him to evade the police.

Many of these so-called christian fundamentalists are thinly-disguised (at best) racists and xenophobes. One of the founders of the christian reconstruction movement, Rousas John Rushdoony, was outspoken about making mixed-race marriage illegal. He also claimed that slavery practiced in the American south was inherently benign and that slavery was the natural state for “some people”. Christian dominionism/christian reconstructionism is predicated on the idea that all laws must be limited by the laws of the christian god. For those who think that this idea has no following among mainstream christians, I suggest you examine the public speeches of Mike Huckabee- who was at one time a contender for the presidency.

The fact that this sort of sectarian garbage is popular enough to propel a bible-thumper like Huckabee to national prominence should be a warning sign of trouble in the future. Despite Huckabee’s absence from the current presidential contender field, the same sort of batshit-loonie christian fundamentalism is profoundly present in the persons of several of the republicans seeking the nomination. No religion- not even the christianity tepidly followed by an overwhelming majority of Americans- should be permitted to have political power. Granting priests political power invariably results in pogroms, witch-hunts, jihads, and crusades. In every age, the priest (however defined) has always been hostile to liberty. Despite these historic truths, a large and vocal minority are actively working to create a christian theonomy or theocracy in the United States.

The long-term goal of Christians in politics should be to gain exclusive control over the franchise. Those who refuse to submit publicly to the eternal sanctions of God by submitting to His Church’s public marks of the covenant – baptism and holy communion – must be denied citizenship, just as they were in ancient Israel. The way to achieve this political goal is through successful mass evangelism followed by constitutional revision. – Gary North

We believe that the whole Word of God must be applied to all of life. It is not only our duty as individuals, families and churches to be Christian, but it is also the duty of the state, the school, the arts and sciences, law, economics, and every other sphere to be under Christ the King. Nothing is exempt from His dominion. We must live by His Word, not our own. – Mark Rushdoony

Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost, as the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors — in short, over every aspect and institution of human society. – Dr. James Kennedy

The goal of America’s Providential History is to equip Christians to be able to introduce Biblical principles into the public affairs of America, and every nation in the world, and in so doing bring Godly change throughout the world. We will be learning how to establish a Biblical form (and power) of government in America and we will see how our present governmental structures must be changed. Since the principles we will be learning are valid in every society and in any time in history, they will be able to be applied throughout the world and not just in America. As we learn to operate nations on Biblical principles, we will be bringing liberty to the nations of the world and hence fulfilling part of God’s plan for the nations. – From America’s Providential History (a history textbook for christian home-schoolers) by Mark A. Beliles and Stephen K. McDowell.

We believe that institutionally Christianity should be the official religion of the country, that its laws should be specifically Christian. – Rev. David Chilton, Church of the Redeemer, Placerville, CA.

Civil Officials must acknowledge the lordship of Christ, and obey his rules for civil governments. – Gary DeMar and Peter Leithart

These creatures are publicly stating their intentions to destroy our Republic in the name of their god, and yet there is no public outcry. Supposedly moderate christians do not denounce and distance themselves from their rabid fellow believers. Why not? Those same “moderate” christians were very public about wanting muslims to denounce islamic fundamentalists. Are they completely blind to their own hypocrisy?

I have repeatedly said that I care not what god or gods you may worship. If you want to believe that there is only one true god named Orgo who lives in a lake, be my guest. If you want to sacrifice a tenth of your income to your church/temple/mosque, I say- go for it. If you want to pray to the Giant Space Goblin or Ymir or Zeus, that is your business. More power to you. Where I draw the line is when you try to force anyone else to live by your religion’s rules. If you want to live that way, feel free. Your right to believe what you wish stops where that belief intrudes on the rights of other people to believe what they wish. If your god or gods are unhappy with the existence of unbelievers, they can miracle the infidels away. As soon as you try to help your deity of choice with this project, you become my enemy, and the enemy-general of all men, to be dealt with as wolves are.

With the US population essentially abandoning the rest of the world to its own devices in pursuit of domestic politics, it could be easy to forget that there are lots of people out there who don’t follow our rules of behavior. Or any rational rules of behavior, for that matter. These people are all too happy to blow up scads of innocent passers-by in the idiotic belief that this will somehow effect the ridiculous changes they seek to impose upon everyone around them.

Case in point: two women walked into a Moscow subway during rush hour this morning and blew themselves up, killing dozens of people and wounding dozens more. A similar atrocity took place in the UK a few years ago, as well as several attacks in various forms of public transportation over the past few years in Russia and Spain. For those of you not paying attention, let us examine the fact that these attackers deliberately targeted civilians. Innocent people going about their daily lives are considered legitimate targets by these animals. By contrast, the US military goes out of its way as a matter of policy- even to the point of sustaining avoidable casualties- to avoid targeting civilians. When the inevitable mistake happens, and civilians are nonetheless attacked by US forces, US public opinion and military doctrine mandates exhaustive investigations into the circumstances and the arrest and trial of those responsible.

While many of our enemies see this as evidence of American weakness, we’re really doing it for their benefit. We are all aware- at some level- of the violence lurking deep within us, and we take great pains to avoid letting it out. With the equipment and training available to the US military, our self-restraint is the only thing keeping large portions of planet in a habitable condition. We know this about ourselves, and try very hard- as a people- to prevent our killer instincts from getting loose … because we don’t much like what happens to others when we do let our darker natures free. I invite all and sundry to imagine what would happen if we- the People- ever told our military to take their gloves off. The last time that was permitted to happen, we ended up with the firebombings of Dresden and Tokyo, and the dawn of miniature suns over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The US military has no equal at this time. Our Navy can park several thousand troops and hundreds of aircraft off any coast on Earth and keep them there indefinitely. Our Air Force can strike literally anywhere on the planet from deep inside the continental US. Our eyes and ears in the sky and in space can listen in on almost every communication in the world. Our Army and Marines are superbly trained, equipped, and supported by all those other services, making them more than a match for any other military on Earth. US missiles can deliver deadly payloads- including nuclear warheads- anywhere in the world with unbelievable precision and on extremely short notice. Other militaries may be larger, and many countries boast military units of exceptional skill and professionalism, the US literally has no military equal.

And yet, in the face of horror and barbarism from our enemies, we refrain from unleashing our justified wrath upon those enemies- for their sakes. Our enemies once claimed to desire a war between the US and Islam, and many have asked if the US could possibly fight a billion Muslims. The answer is, yes. Were we to treat our enemies as they treat us, there would be death and carnage on a scale the world has never seen. Were we to unleash our might without restraint, there would no longer be a billion Muslims. That restraint is not for our benefit, it is for the benefit of our friends and allies and even our enemies.

For those among us who sneer derisively at the activities of our enemies and claim that we are somehow superior to them- guess again. From the upper midwest comes a tale of a Christian militia group which planned to murder a local police officer and then attack his funeral with improvised explosive devices. Sound familiar? These are exactly the same tactics used by our Islamic enemies. I’d link to the group’s website so you could see for yourself what sort of animals we’re dealing with, but it seems to be offline. Here’s the Wikipedia entry, for as long as it stays up.

These self-described “christian warriors” have decided that they’re perfectly fine with murdering innocents in the name of their “holy war”, and they come from right here in the USA. Tell me again why we’re different from our external enemies.

I’ve already told you the answer: we have resolved- as a people- to keep our killer instincts in check. We have resolved- as a people- that we are willing to expend the lives of our young men and women to fight our enemies on our terms, rather than stoop to their level. We are better than our enemies for these reasons.

But there are those among us who are willing to unleash terror on their fellow citizens in the name of their god. Remember always that our killer instinct is always with us, lying dormant beneath the civilized veneer. Remember, too, that our enemies are not muslims or christians or atheists or albigensians, but fundamentalists and fanatics. Never forget that extremism leads always to atrocities.

Whether the State can loose and bind
In Heaven as well as on Earth:
If it be wiser to kill mankind
Before or after the birth-
These are matters of high concern
Where State-kept schoolmen are;
But Holy State (we have lived to learn)
Endeth in Holy War.

Whether The People be led by The Lord,
Or lured by the loudest throat:
If it be quicker to die by the sword
Or cheaper to die by vote-
These are things we have dealt with once,
(And they will not rise from their grave)
For Holy People, however it runs,
Endeth in wholly Slave.

Whatsoever, for any cause,
Seeketh to take or give
Power above or beyond the Laws,
Suffer it not to live!
Holy State or Holy King-
Or Holy People’s Will-
Have no truck with the senseless thing.
Order the guns and kill!
Saying –after–me:–

Once there was The People- Terror gave it birth;
Once there was The People and it made a Hell of Earth
Earth arose and crushed it. Listen, 0 ye slain!
Once there was The People- it shall never be again!